The present invention relates to a waterproof terminal structure, particularly to a waterproof terminal structure including a contact having a spring contact point.
The present invention also relates to an electronic device module capable of preventing water from entering the inside of a housing.
A waterproof terminal structure that has a waterproof function despite the presence of an elastically-displaceable spring contact point is disclosed in, for instance, JP 2009-59586 A. The waterproof terminal structure includes movable contact point terminals 2 disposed in a housing 1 and elastic seal members 3 of diaphragm shape separately fixed to the movable contact point terminals 2, as shown in FIG. 24. The movable contact point terminals 2 each have a tubular body 4 and a movable pin 5 that is incorporated in the tubular body 4 to be movable therein along an axial direction. The movable pin 5 is disposed to project outward from the housing 1 through an opening 6 of the housing 1.
A through-hole 7 is formed in the center of each elastic seal member 3. With the movable pin 5 penetrating the through-hole 7, the elastic seal member 3 and the movable pin 5 are tightly attached and fixed to each other, while the elastic seal member 3 is fitted in the opening 6 of the housing 1 such that the outer peripheral portion of the elastic seal member 3 is tightly attached and fixed to the opening 6 of the housing 1. The elastic seal member 3 elastically deforms as following the movement of the movable pin 5 along the axial direction.
Having the elastic seal member 3 as above makes it possible to prevent water from entering the inside of the housing 1 while allowing the movement of the movable pin 5 that projects from inside to outside of the housing 1 through the opening 6.
Since, however, the movable pin 5 of the movable contact point terminal 2 penetrates the through-hole 7 of the elastic seal member 3 in the waterproof terminal structure of JP 2009-59586 A, water may go through not only the interface between the outer peripheral portion of the elastic seal member 3 and the opening 6 of the housing 1 but also the interface between the through-hole 7 of the elastic seal member 3 and the outer peripheral portion of the movable pin 5, and thus it is difficult to have an excellent waterproof function.
In addition, since the movable pin 5 of the movable contact point terminal 2 is movable along the axial direction, peel-off is likely to occur between the through-hole 7 of the elastic seal member 3 and the outer peripheral portion of the movable pin 5, which may impair a waterproof function.